[Chuck]

Wiring, Part V, Gauges

With the switch panels in place, it was time to move on to the gauges, which were straight forward.

The speedometer power source is not wired with the other gauges. A ground and power wire were twisted together. The power source was connected directly to the accessory terminal of the ignition switch and the separate ground will be secured directly to the chassis ground. I am contemplating using a shielded cable or twisted wire for the magnetic pickup. This should minimize the risk of electrical interference.

The speedometer will have to be removed to gain access to the dip switches in order to calibrate it. To facilitate removing it, knurled nuts were used to secure it to the bracket which were finger tightened rather than the nuts that came with the gauges. (Note the picture below). Plugs were used on the light wires so that the unit could be completely removed after the dash was installed. One will be able to reach behind the dash, remove the knurled nuts, and pull out the speedometer to adjust the dip switches without too much difficulty.

A couple of 12 gauge wires were screwed to the brace / buss bar. The opposite ends will be screwed to the chassis, one going to the left and the other to the right side of the chassis. When complete there will be at least three ground wires from the dash assembly to the chassis. A good ground can minimize lots of gremlins.

The kit came with a clock which we want to replace with an oil temperature gauge. Since the oil temperature gauge has not yet arrived, we installed the clock but added an extra pick up wire and the necessary connections for the oil temp gauge so that it will be an easy swap. The clock actually keeps pretty good time! The “always on” radio power source was used to energize the clock. The red reset switch was mounted just to the right of the steering column on the bottom of the dash, where it is out of sight.